Web Video / danisnotonfire

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Daniel Howell, previously known under the username danisnotonfire, is a British YouTuber.

Dan's videos span a lot of different topics and formats, though he rarely does straight-forward vlogging. He makes videos describing his past failings with self-deprecating humor, discussing topics he finds relevant/interesting, and truth-or-dare type videos. Most of the humor which is used is in a sarcastic/ironic way. He often uses a skit format that makes sense when you find out that he's done a lot of theater and has/had aspirations of being an actor. Oddly, he was getting a law degree before he decided that University probably wasn't for him.

Tropes used by Daniel Howell:

Adorkable: He's a gigantic nerd, and also incredibly socially awkward, and his viewers love him for it.

all lowercase letters: He types like this, evident in his onscreen editing comments and social media activity.

Ambiguously Bi: Fans have expressed some confusion about this, due to past claims to being so, and casual remarks on the attractiveness of some male figures. He lampshades this in his "Roast Yourself" video, with, "So your celebrity crush was J-Law, but now it's Evan P.? What the fuck even is your sexuality?"

Artifact Title: As of 2017, he changed his name on his social media accounts to Daniel Howell for many reasons he explains in this video, allowing this trope to be played straight with his old username.

Ascended Fanboy: He spent years watching YouTuber Phil Lester, until eventually becoming friends (and later, roommates) with Phil through incessant tweeting and video commenting (an unlikely turn-of-events that he would later parody in a mock how-to video). Dan told Phil that he'd always wanted to make videos on YouTube, but just didn't think he would be any good. With Phil's encouragement, Dan gave it a go anyway and the rest, as they say, is history.

American Accents: He and Phil sometimes do this when fans ask them to. However, Dan is terrible at it as he sounds about as American as Queen Elizabeth. His Valley Girl accent is impeccable though.

Animal Motif: Llamas, which feature in some video titles, his clothing (the llama hat pictured above), and even in the games he plays (they buy a llama hedge in The Sims.)

The Anti-Nihilist: In his Existential Crisis video his advice is to embrace the fact that you have freedom and you have to control your own destiny because the universe will not stop for your problems and the world won't stop because of your problems, neither the universe or the world will care about your problems and that you must take control of your life because nothing else will.

Call-Back: In his Photobooth challenge with Phil, they use the moon backdrop and Dan trips over his bed. Phil remarks "Dan just fell off the moon," which was one of the options in their Would You Rather video that happened over two years back.

Crossover: He and his flatmate Phil are involved with BBC Radio 1, formerly running their own request show on Sunday nights from 7pm-9pm, but having now been moved to Mondays 9pm-10-pm. They also do an excessive number of collaborative videos. The two of them have a joint gaming channel called Dan And Phil GAMES (2014-), and a side channel called The Super Amazing Project (2011-2012). Most of their collab videos on their main channels involve the two of them answering fan questions, generally just hanging out or doing everyday activities such as cooking or playing video games, or interactive choose-your-own-adventure videos. The humour in these videos rely mostly on their back-and-forth and their relationship.

Dan has also appeared in videos with several other YouTubers, as is the form for popular channels.

Delayed "Oh, Crap!": When he is recounting how he almost accidentally got killed by a speargun while swimming on holiday in "OMG WTF ASDFGHJKL", this was his reaction in his head:

Dan: Now, you may be wondering why the video is called what it is, but, I can't really articulate everything I felt in that moment. So I was like: "Heh, oh, right, there's a guy with a speargun. WHAT THE FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!?"

What got him fired from his old job. He knew there would occasionally be "test kids" who would try to buy restricted tools, and that refusing sale was the proper practice. One day, Dan didn't care enough, and sold the kid the tool, which led to his getting fired.

Falling out of his chair during a livestream.

Dan and Phil's trip to Australia is a disaster, since, after Dan decides to film a video instead of packing, his rush to get ready results in him spraying aerosol deodorant into his eye.

Freak-Out: Apparently, he had one when he had to resit his law school exam and suddenly realized he didn't want to go to university. Dramatized in "College Dropout." Dan's trying to study for his exam while Phil plays some video games, and then, all of a sudden...

Dan: AAAAAAAGH! I'M NOT DOING IT! Phil: What? Dan: I'm not gonna do it! Phil: ...What? Dan: No one can make me do it! Phil: Dan, what are you on about? Dan: That's it! I'm not going! Phil: Dan...? Dan: I've had enough! I don't care anymore! Phil: What aren't you going to? Dan: My exam. Phil: What do you mean? Dan: I'm not going. Phil: Dan, you have to go to your resit. Dan:(throwing his book to the ground) NOT IF I DON'T GIVE A FUCKING FUCK ANYMORE, I DON'T! (Beat. Dan bursts into tears.)Five minutes later...(Cut to Dan hugging his knees on the kitchen floor.)

Freudian Excuse: Discussed in "My Evil Piano Teacher." So far as Dan can tell, the teacher in question didn't have one; she was just a massive bitch. Though Young!Dan in the flashbacks has some rather... squirrely... theories.

Young!Dan:(snooping through his teacher's things) Your son was killed by a piano...? NO! Your husband was a piano, and he died—NO! You wanted to be a piano, but you were born as a human instead...

Fun with Subtitles: In "How to Befriend Your Favourite Internet Stars", the subtitles for each step and piece of advice are rather...different from what he actually says.

Gone Horribly Right: His "roast-yourself challenge" video, being a rap self-diss track, and the April Fools "Dan and Phil Crafts" channel, as both are complete parodies that achieved legitimate success. The former had gone into the music charts after someone illegally uploaded it to iTunes, which then caused it to be ranked at #7 in the hip-hop charts. The latter ended up getting Dan and Phil a silver play button from YouTube due to the amount of subscribers.

Green-Eyed Monster: He has said in numerous videos that his jealousy and envy are his worst traits.

Hidden Depths: His "Roast Yourself" video reveals that he's pretty good at rapping.

I Am Not Shazam: invoked One of the reasons he changed his online usernames to his actual name in 2017, since he was often referred to by the "danisnotonfire" name rather than it being considered the name of his content.

I Am Very British: Dan insists against commentators that he doesn't have a posh accent. He's just articulate.

Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He had a phase sporting this look with what may be considered a stereotypically emo hairstyle (long and straight). He cut it short later, which kept, and in 2017, he embraced its natural curl and stopped straightening it.

Mood Whiplash: The "Internet Support Group" videos tend to be this, mainly consisting of ridiculous or otherwise amusing questions and generally terrible advice from Dan, but every now and then actually having a sincere question that Dan will answer with some genuinely good advice.

My God, What Have I Done?: This what he usually says when he does something embarrassing or does something that he quickly regrets in the future. He also gives a "The Reason You Suck" Speech to the audience when he reviewed the Dan memes of 2016, such as saying that his traditional peace sign was actually a mechanism he uses to calm himself down when he's at social events and he ended the video by saying that he was crying when someone made a joke video which made his memes into a Lazytown song. This made some of the subscribers feel guilty for their actions.

Nerd Glasses: In the News segments for his and Phil's Super Amazing Project videos. Might also put them on for comedic purposes whenever he's making a "deep point" about something, as seen in his video "Psycho Thoughts".

"No. Just... No" Reaction: Some of the questions he receives in the Internet Support Group videos garner this reaction. Notably, his only response to a girl who had a crush on her teacher was a very stern, "No."

No Social Skills: Lampshades this frequently. Whenever he's with Louise (from "Sprinkle of Glitter"), their combined awkwardness invariably ends in disaster.

Oh, Crap!: In "Sexy Internet Dating", he and Phil have one when they realize that one of their prank victims lives in their building, and in "Sexy Internet Dating - London", Dan has one (which Phil soon echoes) upon realizing that he just sent their location to the person they were chatting with.

Old Shame: invokedSubverted. While Dan is definitely uncomfortable and embarrassed watching his older videos, he can appreciate them as a part of his creative development despite the cringing.

Painful Body Waxing: He gets Louise to wax his legs after he promised a video of it. It's already bad enough due to the method of hair removal, but Louise's relative inexperience doesn't help.

Precision F-Strike: All the time. Sometimes, he bleeps them out but only if he thinks it's necessary.

Used for dramatic effect in "I Nearly Blinded Myself", when Dan takes his only chance to have things go his way after a truly disastrous day.

Protagonist and Friends: In videos by other channels Dan is regarded as attractive or gets more compliments whereas Phil is neglected despite the pair being close friends.

Shirtless Scene: Dan is often found shirtless in bed, justified by the fact that that's how he normally sleeps. His first shirtless bed scene was in his second video ever "Butterfingers", and he's still keeping it up in recent videos like "typos have ruined my life", "My Greatest Fear", and "I Can't Live Without My Phone". Other notable examples: "I Can't Sleep" (several in-bed scenes), "How NOT To Stay Cool" (censored full nudity), and the Phil video "A Day in the Life of Dan and Phil in London!" (shirtless Dan filmed in bed by Phil for an extended period of time). He also used to do "nakedbooths", to celebrate dailybooth follower milestones.

Shout-Out: Many, from many aspects of pop culture. A more subtle one is done in "My Evil Piano Teacher", when he says he went on to play freely and learn songs he liked, he plays "Mia and Sebastian's Theme".

Sir Swears-a-Lot: Nary a video goes without Dan cursing. Phil usually bleeps them out whenever they're doing a video together, but sometimes he agrees with the intent and leaves the cursing uncensored.

Spell My Name with an "S": invoked Another reason for his username change: he was tired of news outlets referring to his handle with more conventional formatting (i.e. "DanIsNotOnFire" or "Dan Is Not On Fire"), as opposed to how he styled it (with no spacing or caps.) This peeve is mentioned before the actual name change in Internet Support Group 7, and the intent to change the username is brought up with it.

Taking the Heat: When he accidentally presses the panic alarm at an old job, he doesn't confess. When an elderly cleaning employee owns up to the crime, Dan lets her to save his own skin. Because this is Dan, after all, it didn't take long for another incident to finally get him fired.

Those Two Guys: Contrary to most YouTube duos, Dan & Phil originally weren't an double-act and rose to fame on their own respective channels. However, it is becoming rarer and rarer to see one without the other: they live together, very frequently appear in each other's videos, have created two collaborative side channels, got their own radio show on BBC1, were offered a dual cameo by Disney in the UK version of Big Hero 6, have hosted award shows together, and pretty much always appear side by side for interviews or conventions.

They've created a phone app (7 Second Challenge), a book, and a tour together.

They've also won the 'Best Vlogger' award despite it usually only being won by one vlogger.

Trauma Button: Partially played for laughs with whisks, a result of watching a particularly horrifying video involving one while testing the boundaries of Rule 34 with Tyler Oakley.

Troll: 12-year-old Dan unintentionally does this to himself when, years later, adult Dan checks out his old childhood website. Said website includes a link that creates a long chain of pop-ups and a Screamer Prank, both of which he falls for and hates himself for adding in the first place.

Weirdness Magnet: While not as much as Phil, he meets his fair share, and they're a bit more unnerving. He had a fake French teacher who stole mugs and hid them in his cabinets, kept his clothes at school, and ate dog treats, was met face-to-face with a spear hunter while swimming, and had an evil piano teacher who kept nothing but meat in her refrigerator.

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